Sunday, January 1, 2017

Smocking from Knits for Joy 101 Experiments

I go to Fay Butcher’s Passap club meeting for Duo 80s. and
she had a wonderful adaptation of the Silver/Studio SK machines pamphlets 101
Knits for Joy. These pamphlets are all well out of print and so I can cite the
source, not me, not my work, I can share the document with you.

Here is a scan of the whole pamphlet, a resource no longer
available and I know I certainly haven’t seen a live one of any of the Purls of
Joy, never knew they existed.

For smocking on a Passap, here are Fay’s ideas:

Use one end rayon and 2 ends boucle, or similar thin yarn.

Working on the back bed, use the cast on comb on your waste
yarn, black strippers and drop the bed when forming the pulled up smoking.

Using the adjustable selector ruler (WMK61) set at 5:1 as
there will be five spaces between, pushing up the pushers to identify the
correct needles.

Being clever Passap knitters, the rest is easy to follow
along with. And here is what I was experimenting with on my SK280 and intarsia AG20
carriage.

The instructions are fairly simple – although I did come
unstuck in the beginning. Oops.

Start with waste yarn, ravel thread

6 rows Col 1 (red) and then 4 rows Col 2 (white)

That’s the start only.

Next bit is the repeat:

6 rows Col 1 (red)

2 TWO rows Col 2 (white)

Then pick up the loops on the previous white on needle 2,
then 8, 14, 20, 26 and so on –

2 TWO rows Col 2 (white)

6 rows Col 1 (red)

2 TWO rows Col 2 (white)

Then pick up the loops on the previous white on needle 5,
then 11, 17, 23, 29 and so on –

2 TWO rows Col 2 (white

I did two
ruler’s worth, that’s easiest for me.

I used a thinner red and slightly thicker white. I used the main carriage with the white, T6.1 and the intarsia carriage for the red, T4.1. Starts with 6 R red, 4R white, then begin the repeats 6R red, but only 2 TWO rows white.

Per the Purls of Joy pamphlet, start on the right hand side on needle 2, then every 6th. I used the 7 prong tool to make it easy to mark out every 6th.

I liked the top two white only ones, you might like a different set, but only one loop

Here are the two loops I mean.

Knit two more rows.

Then repeat with start on the RH side on needle 5 then every 6th.

And here are some using the intaria carriage notes

I moved all the needles out to hold them pushed them back so the latches are near the gate pages, make sure all the latches are open then do the 6 rows of red. It was easier to have the white on the main carriage, however if the fluffy yarn is going to be used, then the intarsia will have to be used and it's a bit more work to set up the needles for the smock threads.